Summer is upon us

Happy Easter to you all! My son with his dad went to get their haircut but wasn't open but I was glad I had some time for myself, and wrote this blog about it:  http://everyonecanbuildacastle.com/2024/03/31/putting-yourself-first/ 

Putney one of the towns I like to spend some time and where the Boat Race starts 

I got up early as I do now, check out my previous posts where I have written about this habit I have started and went through my diary and wrote some tasks down and updating my google calendar and had a nice bath, sorted out the closet in the guest bedroom, and played football with my son in the garden, and edited another chapter of my book, called When Mothers are Real and got two chapters to do and that will be the 4th edit done. 

It has been a good productive day and gave Henry his Easter Egg from me, which he was happy about, and tomorrow we will be going over to my Wimbledon and doing an Easter Egg hunt. It is a good time to get together and it is nice to play out in the garden and glad it is lighter now. 

Oh and instead of doing a shopping haul this month for the Food Bank, I made a donation instead. If you'd like to do this too, check out this link: https://www.trusselltrust.org/get-help/find-a-foodbank/

I hope this means having to put on layers of clothing as it has been nice. When it comes to the summer it is good to go for morning walks, go to a splash park. They often have one in Wimbledon Park. Sadly the cafe they had their is no longer there, so pack a picnic, but there is still the playgrounds, tennis courts and you can even play volleyball, and they often have events there too. Last year we went to Pub in the Park, please check this vlog on my Youtube channel, Typical London Gal: https://youtu.be/YkDOauaiJBY

It is good to get out and enjoy the sunshine and didn't realise yesterday it was the Boat Race. This Race has been going on for years and is top event between Oxford and Cambridge. I love watching it, but didn't think it would on so soon. 

Then there is going to a pub and having a pub lunch outside or a coffee. I may do this whilst my son is at his holiday club do that and go to Wimbledon Village, as they have some nice coffee shops and sit outside. It is good to have a BBQ and have a gathering of friends. If you have a birthday this time of year when it is warm, have it in a park or in the garden. My nieces did this last year and was were really good days, and was lucky with the weather, living in the UK. 

Anyway I am going to enjoy the rest of the day and will be back with a blog tomorrow. Please remember to subscribe and this will help to write things that you'd like for me to write about and can leave a comment below. 

Many thanks for reading,

Carrie X 

A Super Productive Day

So I hope you have all, had a good, Good Friday. I was up early again, check out my previous blogs, where I have written about my new morning habit.

The Kebabs I made last night, which I wrote about in yesterdays blog, were okay but forgot to season and put some oil over them, because they were a little dry. I will learn next time I make them, and that is one thing I would always advise, is never give up and keep trying, and it is a natural human living thing, to make mistakes, that is the only way we learn. 

I was doing a lot of planning today for various projects. When it comes to planning projects the one thing I advise is to brainstorm, create a vision board and read books like Atomic Habits, and doing 2 minute habits which following this method, has really helped get things done, and I have started like with getting up early, started to use my Google Calendar again, aswell as using OneNote, my diary and always have my journal and a notepad. 

It is so rewarding to be able to tick things off and completing my tasks I set out for the day. I have never been so productive in my life. Yesterday after I took part in doing LinkedIn training updated and changed my details and my profile, and today was planning for my Life Coaching Programme I do each year now, which is the Summer Project 2024, and will be blogs and videos with free resources, to help you have a better life and better year. I will talk about this more as we get near to the start, which is from 1st May to the 31st of August. 

If you like to see my previous blogs for my Life Coaching project then you can, they are all on my site: Everyone can build a castle

I also did some Life Coaching training, and worked on my book When Mothers are real which I am editing now and will be published soon, and popped out and got a few bits, my did some home learning with my son, to help reach his targets set out by his teacher at school and made dinner, gave my son a bath and now writing this blog, and will watch a bit of Youtube and then some TV. 

So, I won't be posting tomorrow as I don't on Saturdays but will on Sunday, maybe Monday but if not from next Tuesday onwards. So have a good rest of Good Friday, and have a great weekend. 

Many thanks for reading,

Carrie X 

Making good food

Hello, so as of now as my son has finished school for the day, the Easter Holidays have begun and so means planning lots of fun. Tonight for dinner we are having picky bits for dinner, which I haven't done for a while and really looking forward to it. 

It is a good way to use up the food you have and making kebabs tonight, Chicken and beef, along with Nacho's, dips, carrot sticks, breadsticks, pitta breads and got dessert too. 

I made homemade chicken nuggets yesterday and was a great success and feels good to cook again and want to make more. 

If you want the chicken nugget recipe then check out this link here: https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/chicken-nuggets

The one thing you can do, which I have done is have a folder of the recipes, and tweak them, so use spices and instead of chips we has mash potato, and my son and husband had beans and I had salad. Oh and don't by the cheap lettuce from Waitrose as I wrapped it up but being day 3 it started to be inedible, and so won' be buying again. 

I bought Easter eggs and if you want some tips then check my video here:  Planning and budgeting for the Easter Holidays (youtube.com)

We went to ASDA's and there wasn't many to choose from and was going to go to Home Bargains but my mum said that there wasn't any cheaper unlike last year so have to make do with what I got. The price of everything is really going up and I think next year will be going homemade again. 

If you have any recipes of meals you'd think I would like to make then please do. You can leave a comment below. 

So going to go and make dinner ready and will be blogging again tomorrow, so have a good rest of the day. 

Carrie X 

New Sleeping habits I have started and how it has made a difference to me

Hello! If you are new to this blog site then welcome. Today has been super productive, and if you haven't read my previous blogs then I have started to get up really early. This just happened and in doing so I have found that my energy has improved. 

I also now at the end of each day write in my journal of all things that has made me happy each day. I have become more organized. We did got to bed a bit too early lastnight and we all woke up at around 1am and struggled to go back to sleep so going to go to bed a bit later tonight, so I don't over sleep. 

Sleep is so important and everyone's body clock is different and Steven Bartlett for example sleeps late in the morning and go to sleep later. What I have found that has helped is to listen to your body and mind, and what it needs. 

What we eat can have an influence our sleep, like chocolate, which can keep you awake and eating late at night. I was making dinner around 4:30pm but I found that I'd be hungry again come the evening so now we eat between 5 and 6pm. 

There was a time when I would sleep only 4 to 5 hours a night and that was never enough, but I have always woken up early. I remember as a kid at the weekends, when my dad would be up early and I'd be desperate for the toilet but I knew if I got up my dad would hear me and then ask if I'd like a bacon sandwich and knew not to say no, and then that would be it in terms of sleep and be up. 

Friends thought I was a morning person, but that was never the case and would be grumpy. Now I have started to get up around 4:30am to 5:30am and do feel happy and not deprived of sleep. 

So going to now watch a bit of Youtube, read my book and then relax before it is time for bed and will blog again tomorrow. Have a good Wednesday evening.

Many thanks for reading,

Carrie X 

Changing how I live and doing more positive habits

So today was good, and getting up early Around 4;30am to 5:30am, has made me more productive. I edited one of my books, and edited the chapters I wanted to edit, went out to do some walking and pick up some shopping, did an indoor workout and posted a blog on my site Everyone can build a castle, listened to another section of my online course I am doing, which is Life Coaching and watched a bit of a TV programme I have gotten into called Dropout on BBC iPlayer and made a decision about building my life and growing, and feel that my life is changing, and feel super positive about my life now. 

I was always someone who worried a lot. Since getting up early I no longer feel anxious, so going to keep getting up early, as it really is making a difference to my life. 

Soon it will be time for dinner and have started writing a list of food that we need to eat going on the expiry dates and that it all gets eaten and reduce waste. 

I do feel we all have to do our bit for the environment and lower our waste to protect our planet and lives. 

There was a time I wasn't taking this seriously, and feel bad about that, and now am taking action. 

I feel it is our duty as a human beings to help respect our homes and the air in which we breath, as who else is responsible. 

Reducing waste can have a good impact in stopping global warming and protect the solar system. 

It is important for me to set a good example for my son and not be wasteful. I like the fact that many people are growing their own vegetables and wanting to help us all be healthy and happy. 

So I hope you have a great evening and I will blog tomorrow too, so see you then. Oh and remember to subscribe, its completely free, and you will be alerted of when I have posted a blog. It is helpful to me and like feedback so if there are topics you'd like me to cover, then please leave a comment below.

Many thanks for reading, 

Carrie X 

Getting up early has boosted my energy and helped my sleep

Wow today went so fast and got up about 5am and feel alright. I since getting up at around this time, that I have a lot more energy and get a lot done. I posted my weekly cheat sheets I create each week, check out blog sites Everyone can build a castle and The Parenting Adventures tips and tricks, and did a walk on the treadmill and worked on the books, planned for the week and so will keep reporting on how it's been affecting me since this has started, because it naturally happened.

I used to hate the mornings and would take me ages to get to sleep and then wake up the next day and have suffered insomnia all my life, and would wake up between 3 and 4am and when I would try to go back to sleep would have a terrible nightmare. As you get older your body and your sleep can change and get your sleep under control can really make a difference to your daily habits and how you feel when you wake up, and your feelings.

I hated alarms and as a kid it was my mum would sing to us, to wake us up (we my brother and I) and neither my brother nor I wanted to get up and I often would go further down the bed under the sheets hoping she'd forget and could stay in bed and wanted it to be possible to hibernate through the winter. 

It would amaze me how people can sleep through out the day as I was never able to unless I was unwell and when I began working it changed, and of course when you have a job and not school, it can change your sleep pattern, because like school you couldn't be late, as you can lose your job, as it is important to turn up on time and often found it hard to switch off, to get a good night sleep, when it was bed time again. I would dream of work and feel I hadn't been asleep at all. 

I would think in the morning as I was super tired still think "Tonight I will go to bed early" but that never happened and would play out on the housing estate where I lived, and food, TV and now android devices it can affect sleep and reactivate your mind, and still be fully awake come bed time. 

When I worked at a holiday camp, and would work split shifts I would then sleep in the afternoon, but I would get disorientated and would wake up startled thinking I was late for work and only to see that it is the morning especially in the summer when it light early morning and the afternoon. 

So now I am going to get on as soon it will be dinner time and get ready for evening so will blog again tomorrow. 

Please subscribe if you'd like be notified of my daily blogs as soon as they are posted and hoped you have a good rest of the Monday. 

Many thanks for reading,

Carrie X  

Things to do at the weekend for you and your kids

Hello on a Sunday. I got up again at 04:30 this morning and like Friday, have a lot of energy and working on my Life Coaching programme I do each  year,  called the Summer Project which I have done now for two years and is to help you to have a better life and better year. Check out my blog site: Everyonecanbuildacastle.com 

Image I took of the show we saw at the Polka Theatre in Wimbledon

My son went to his rugby club and they help with coaching, like my son, that have special needs and got so much patience and have plenty of coaches to teach them and it has taken a long time to find a club like that, thanks to my mums persistence, found it and have matches being played aswell different clubs. It is Wimbledon RFC , and has a brilliant club house where you can have a coffee and food, and plenty of space inside and outside to sit down and watch them training and are all volunteers. 

On now as I back in Epsom, is a women's rugby beginning, one BBC 2.

We also went to the Polka Theatre in Wimbledon to see a play called Tiny and it is about a Badger who likes to be tidy and it was only for 45 minutes and great for kids and there is a cafe and a shop to buy toys and books and again run my Volunteers. You do have to book to see the shows, and get in early because they can sell out. 

I love the weekends and always have. Me and my brother always had hobbies and went to different clubs and would visit my grandparents and watch horse racing, as my grandad (my mums dad) loved horse racing and a programme which is no longer on, called Grandstand and showed many different sports on BBC and was a must watch and programme on Channel 4 called, Transworld Sport. 

I would worked for Fulham football club as a Steward at the weekends and sometimes in the week and then later on coaching a football team. I did my coaching qualification a Richmond Upon Thames college and it was good. A lot of work involved and thankfully my mum drove, so she would take me to the away games, for the matches and they are many clubs that have kids clubs and academies. Check out the FA website: https://www.thefa.com/

So great for kids when not at school to still have social interaction and see different faces and other children for their skills and development and build good relationships with other children. 

Enjoy the rest of your Sunday and please follow me if you like to be notified about my daily blogs and never miss one.

Many thanks for reading, 

Carrie X